


A hui hou nō

by stephmcx



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s10e22 Aloha (Goodbye), Established Relationship, Fix-It, Friendship/Love, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, Love Letters, M/M, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Finale, Postcards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:28:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23598370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephmcx/pseuds/stephmcx
Summary: “You'll never guess who I met on the plane”, the first sentence on Steve’s first postcard reads and Danny can’t help the smile crossing his face.For one, he’s not at all surprised by Steve sending postcards. The old-fashioned way. It’s a very Steve thing to do. The other thing that makes Danny smile goofily at the postcard in his hand: he knows exactly who Steve had met on the plane.Danny's side of things while Steve is away.
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Comments: 58
Kudos: 343





	A hui hou nō

“You'll never guess who I met on the plane”, the first sentence on Steve’s first postcard reads and Danny can’t help the smile crossing his face.

For one, he’s not at all surprised by Steve sending postcards. The old-fashioned way. It’s a very Steve thing to do. Danny imagines it gives him a sense of security, because by the time the postcard arrives at its destination, Steve is long gone from the place he sent it from. 

Sending postcards home is also a very sweet gesture, corny and almost romantic, and for all that Steve is pragmatic and realistic to a fault, he is also a giant marshmallow at heart. Danny knows there’s a soft and downright sensitive core under all the tough defensive layers that Steve has built around his heart and his soul over the years. It’s breathtaking and beautiful when Steve lets it show and it’s the very reason why Danny fell in love with him all these years ago. 

Danny is grateful that Steve trusts him enough, feels comfortable enough around him to let him see through his armor when they are together. He desperately hopes this journey will help Steve tearing some of these layers down permanently, otherwise Danny fears he will be crushed under their weight one day. It’s the exact reason why Danny had encouraged Steve to go through with his plan to take a break, to get away for a while, to find peace—even though all Danny wanted was to beg him to stay. 

”It’s not goodbye forever,” Steve had said and Danny knows he meant it. Danny _knows_ Steve will return home eventually, but until then he has to keep watch from afar. 

And if Steve had really thought he could disappear from everyone’s radar for a while, well, he had underestimated his ohana—and Danny’s determination. Because that’s the other thing that makes Danny smile goofily at the postcard in his hand: he knows exactly who Steve had met on the plane.

Danny had already discussed with Junior how to keep tabs on Steve inconspicuously _before_ the whole kidnapping thing had happened. That it was Catherine who ended up cracking the cipher was a happy and more than welcome coincidence—just as much as Danny answering Steve’s phone when she rang. Cath had been highly alarmed and very much concerned when Cole had told her about Steve’s travel plans, and it hadn’t taken much convincing by Danny to get her to help. 

It had been Catherine’s idea then, to reschedule her return flight so she could surprise Steve on the plane—and it had worked out well. It had made the departure from Hawaii a little easier on Steve and Cath’s layover at LAX had been long enough to find out where Steve decided to go from there. 

Cath’s text had been a short and precise “KL602, LAX-AMS, Don’t worry, he’s good,” and rarely had a text message evoked such contradictory feelings in Danny. Relief that the plan had worked, that he had a track on Steve, because no way would Danny just let him go. But it also took his heart into a vice grip, making it real—Steve had really left and he would be gone for an unknown period of time. Again.

“You probably know by now that it was Cath who cracked the cipher?  
It was good seeing her; and saying goodbye.  
I’ll be on my way now. Aloha, Danny. A hui hou.  
—S  
P.S. Miss you, too.”

Danny reads the rest of Steve’s message and a sharp pang of longing washes over him. It doesn’t wash away the fond smile from his face, though, but maybe it turns a little wistful. Steve had never answered his text, and Danny hadn’t really expected him to, but it’s still nice to get a reply, even if it’s more than a week later.

Although he already knows that Steve is in Europe—thanks to Cath—Danny is surprised to see a picture of Amsterdam’s city center when he turns the postcard around. He wonders if Steve had bought it directly at the airport when he had arrived or if he had stayed there for a couple of days. If he had walked along those streets and seen the historic buildings and the canals. Europe isn’t exactly where Danny had expected him to go, but then Steve hadn’t lost a single word about possible destinations. 

“I will know when I get there,” Steve had said and Danny had been less than impressed. 

But he had been prepared.

—

Steve zig-zags across Europe over the next couple of weeks and Danny follows his track—first in the form of text messages (which are not from Steve), followed-up by a bunch of postcards (which _are_ from Steve) several days later: Norway, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Switzerland.

The postcard from Italy shows a giant pizza on the front instead of one of Italy’s picturesque sights and a note Steve scrawled right over it, saying “It’s missing the pineapples!”

Danny wonders if this is Steve’s subtle way of letting him know that he misses home.

—

Danny had pinned the first postcards to the fridge in Steve’s—their—his kitchen, but he’s slowly running out of space. When he’s cleared fit for duty, he considers taking the whole collection with him to HQ and he thinks about putting up a tracking board. He would put up a map, and he would pin little flags into all the locations the postcards were sent from. It would be just as old-fashioned as the postcards are, and maybe he would feel a little more connected to Steve. 

He doesn’t do it, though. It would have been overkill and moreover, he feels like the postcards are too private in nature and nothing he should put on display quite so openly.

He still wants to see them, all of them, the idea just keeping the most recent ones on the fridge and putting the older ones into a box feels like severing the only connection he has to Steve right now. So instead, Danny removes the ancient oil painting in the dining room, which has been there since the first time Danny has set foot into the house. He’s not sure if Steve had ever taken a conscious look at it, maybe it had been there since his childhood. 

Danny replaces the old canvas with a huge pin board, moving the postcards over from the kitchen and he adds a couple of photos for good measure: a portrait of Steve taken by Grace, a selfie of Steve and him, Steve and the kids on a hike a couple of months ago. He wishes he could add a calender, too, to tick off the days until Steve comes home.

—

The postcard that arrives from Paris hits Danny like a punch to the gut. It’s got the most beautiful, romantic picture of the Eiffel Tower on the front, illuminated in the dusk, almost sparkling.

“Thinking of you. —S” is all it reads on the back, and Danny doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry.

Either way, he is very tempted to call Steve. He’s missing him, badly.

He’s missing Steve on the way to work and he misses working with him. He misses him when he has Charlie over, when he takes Eddie for a walk, when sits on the lanai alone and he misses him at night. He’s missing the craziness and the silliness, he misses the goofy smile and the affection, he misses their banter, their arguments, their kisses, the sex, the hugs, he misses the way they help each other through the difficult days—always finding support and solace with each other. 

It hurts to know that his support is not what Steve needs right now, that the comfort he can offer is not enough. He’s made a vow to himself though, to give Steve the time and space he longs for and not add pressure on him, so he doesn’t call.

But the relief that Steve is thinking of him—and lets him know it—is huge and it makes his knees go weak.

—

Danny is not surprised that it takes a while longer for the next postcard to arrive, he already knows that Steve has crossed continents. It’s from Morocco and Steve’s message reads “How much of a coincidence is it that I ran into Harry in the back of beyond in Spain?”

_Damn it_ , Danny thinks. Now Steve is suspicious of being watched and followed. Of course it had not been a coincidence that Steve had run into Harry Langford of all people while embarking a ferry in Algeciras. The minute Steve had made it across the pond, he’d had Harry on his heels and he has most likely figured it out by now. 

The thing is, Harry will have to back off now, and Danny had been relying on his updates. He does have a plan B, thanks to Junior and some of his and Steve’s fellow SEALs, but the intel will be less frequent and less detailed now.

Plus, and that’s even worse, Danny can’t tell if and how annoyed or even angry Steve is at him for going behind his back.

—

Waiting for the next postcard is agonizing, there hasn’t been an update on Steve’s movements yet and Danny’s mind goes crazy with what-ifs and worst case scenarios. What if Steve stops sending postcards? Will he try to shake the tail and vanish? Will he try to find who’s watching him? What if he gets into trouble because of it?

When it finally arrives and Danny fishes it out of the stack of mail he can’t help but laugh: Steve has sent it from Timbuktu. He really, actually went there.

“Don’t ever say I don’t listen to your advice,” Steve has written on the back.

“If you’d listened to me, you would’ve gone to Jersey,” Danny tells the postcard, slightly irritated. Their talk out on the beach is still a painful memory.

Danny puts the rest of the mail down on John McGarretts old desk and wanders over to his pin board with the postcard still in hand. He pins it onto a free spot and takes a step back to look at the whole collage. It’s been a little over six months since Steve has left, more than half a year, and Danny feels pretty lonely by now. Junior has more or less moved in with Tani, leaving Danny with Eddie to fight for themselves most days.

Speaking of which—Eddie is waiting for his dinner. Danny turns and heads for the kitchen when his eyes lands on the photo of Steve that he had added to the board. Grace had taken the picture at Christmas, and it’s a great shot in which Steve smiles fondly at her camera. Danny smiles back involuntarily.

“Miss you, babe,” he murmurs under his breath.

—

A whole month and no new postcard. Danny knows that Steve has travelled across Africa, along the western coast, that he had been in Ghana, crossed Nigeria into Cameroon, his last known location has been in Angola—a week ago.

Danny worries, he can’t help it. 

He knows it’s probably the most simple explanation, like the postcard getting lost on the long way from Africa to Hawaii. Or maybe there just aren’t all that many postcards available out in the boondocks—who knows where Steve is searching for his peace.

Right now, Danny would give a lot for some peace of mind, too. He feels tense and anxious, even though he’s sacked out on the couch with a lap full of Eddie and a cold beer in his hand. 

There’s something he’s been thinking about for a while now, and it had never bothered him before. Now it does: Steve and him, they have never really addressed this thing between them. Their relationship. Because that’s what it is, isn’t it? 

A lot of arguing and flirting and a couple of drunk kisses had inevitably led to falling into bed together, and they had let it happen, again and again. Attempts at stopping and at having relationships with other people had been half-hearted at best and more about keeping up pretenses than anything else. This thing between them, _their thing_ , it had grown, had sucked them in, had blindsided them and yet, for years, they had just let it happen.

They should have talked about it, acknowledged it. Danny figures they have both been too afraid to commit to anything, because they have both been burned, both been hurt too many times by people they had trusted. Looking back, it’s so easy to see.

And where does that leave them now?

Steve had left without any promises. They hadn’t talked about what Steve leaving meant for their thing, just like they had never talked about the thing at all. Danny knows that Steve loves him, just as he loves Steve. But will that still be enough when Steve returns? 

He has no doubt that Steve will find his way back home eventually. But Danny is not sure if he will be able to just continue in the same, unattached way as before. He’s not sure if he wants to. He is not afraid of losing Steve or his love and friendship—but he is afraid that they’re not on the same page about their thing anymore and it eats him up.

—

Another five weeks pass and while Danny got an update that Steve has moved on to Namibia, there’s no new postcard. The one that finally arrives is addressed to Charlie. It doesn’t say so, but Danny is sure it was meant to arrive in time for his birthday—which was two weeks ago.

Steve has mailed it from Cape Town, South Africa, and in his message he tells about the safari he went on and all the wild animals he has seen. Charlie is over the moon, his hero worship for Steve just raised up a few notches and he keeps asking if Uncle Steve will take him along for a safari the next time he goes on one.

Charlie also keeps gifting Danny with random kisses the whole day because Steve had asked him to “P.S. Give Danno a kiss for me, will you?”

Danny doesn’t find it in him to complain.

—

The next postcard arrives, unexpectedly, already two days later. 

Unexpectedly, it’s from Los Angeles. 

It seems like Steve had shaken his tail after all, Danny hadn’t gotten any intel in advance. 

Danny turns the postcard around to read its message and his anticipation skyrockets.

It simply reads “A hui hou nō. —S”

_See you soon._

This means Steve is coming home, right?

—

It’s a Thursday, a week after the postcard from LA arrived and a little less than nine months after Steve had left, when Danny comes home from work and finds Steve sitting on the front porch. His duffel bag is still sitting where he had dropped it at the foot of the steps, but the front door is ajar and Eddie is draped all over Steve’s lap, tail wagging enthusiastically at being petted by his dearly missed human.

Steve looks up when Danny approaches and smiles. It’s a happy, honest smile and Danny’s heart skips a beat. He stops a few feet in front of Steve, taking in the picture: his hair is longer than Danny has ever seen it, and he has grown a beard again—but he doesn’t look anything like the scruffy, broken man Danny had found in the hotel room in Washington, DC last year.

_This_ Steve looks—he looks good. Relaxed. At ease. He’s still smiling and Danny can’t help but smile back.

“You’re back,” he states and it’s a lame thing to say, but he has to say something.

“Yeah, I’m back,” Steve confirms and tries to push Eddie off of him, unsuccessfully.

“Did you, uh—“ Danny starts, but he’s too overwhelmed, too many thoughts and too many things he wants to say at the same time, too many questions to ask. He takes a deep breath and starts again, “Did you find what you were looking for?” 

“No,” Steve says, but he doesn’t sound particularly bothered. He has finally managed to get up despite Eddie’s objections, and he’s slowly crossing the short distance to where Danny is standing. It feels like he’s moving in slow motion until he stops right in front of Danny, so close. Danny’s heart is beating a frantic rhythm, relief and anticipation battling in his chest when Steve reaches out and tenderly places his hand on Danny’s shoulder.

“It was here all along,” Steve says, and the look in his eyes is full of love, yet so sincere it takes Danny’s breath away. He’s frozen to the spot for a second, staring at Steve, but then he’s moving, pulling Steve into his arms, hugging him hard. Steve hugs him back as good as he gets, almost crushing Danny and he buries his face in the crook of Danny’s neck, like he always does.

“It’s always been you, Danny,” he says, voice low and a little rough now. Danny squeezes him even tighter, he doesn’t care if he’s leaving bruises. It feels so good to have Steve back in his arms.

“Does that mean you’re staying? he asks, and his own voice is just as choked up as Steve’s was a moment before.

“I’m not going anywhere if you don’t want me to,” Steve murmurs and Danny can feel his breath hot against the side of his neck. They stand there for a long while, holding each other tight, holding on as if to make up for the lost time.

Eventually, Danny pulls back a bit and Steve releases his grip, resting his hands lightly on Danny’s back instead. Danny leans back within the embrace, just enough so that he can look at Steve. 

“Was it worth it?” he asks, searching Steve’s face.

Steve ponders the question for a moment. “Yes,” he says and leans down to press a soft kiss to Danny’s lips.

“Good,” Danny says into the kiss, “that’s good. We’re good.”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! ♥
> 
> I'm also on tumblr: [stephmcx](http://stephmcx.tumblr.com).  
> Come say hi, if you like!


End file.
